Tuesday, January 4, 2011

The Beatitudes, Part 2 of 50

TEXT: Matthew 5:1-12

IDEA: Christians have applied the Sermon on the Mount in different ways.

PURPOSE: To help listeners evaluate ways that the Sermon on the Mount has been applied

People who read and study the Sermon on the Mount apply it in different ways.  Why do we do this? Why do sincere people disagree about interpretations of the Bible?

I.  Some people see it as God’s standard of who qualifies for citizenship in the Kingdom of Heaven.

Have you ever taken your children to an amusement park and discovered there are some rides you have to be tall enough to ride?  It doesn’t matter if your child thinks he/she is tall enough or even if you as a parent think so.  There is a cartoon character at the entrance that has its hand leveled at the right height.  The child stands up as straight as possible, but if the child’s head is short of the hand, then the kid is not allowed to ride.

Some people regard the Sermon on the Mount as that hand at the amusement park.  It tells us what we must measure up to if we want acceptance with God.   These folks say, “If you simply live up to the Sermon on the Mount you’ll do all right with God.”

II. What are the problems with this use of the Sermon on the Mount?

It contradicts the rest of the Bible that declares that we have a right standing because of God’s grace through faith and not by our works.

This approach resembles making up your own exam in a course without consulting your teacher.  God doesn’t have a “Make up your own rules” plan for getting into the Kingdom of heaven.

Keeping the Sermon on the Mount to enter the kingdom is the impossible dream.  We will fall short of the standard not by an inch or two.  It will be more like an ant measuring itself by the Empire State Building.  If you use the sermon to measure whether you make it with God, you will have shot yourself in the soul.